BCL Report: End of April, 2011 (the Art of Planning & Collaboration)

Over three days this week, we got a lot done. And, as I write this, stuff is still getting done. This is why collaboration is such a valuable model for art practice.

But, it’s not just about getting stuff done, it’s the challenges, the insights, the novel perspectives that can be brought up around a table that push the work forward. With some of us having worked together for nearly three years, we can anticipate one another and move ideas and projects that much further along because there’s a context, there’s a history, there’s a resonating understanding of what we can do together.

Collaboration FTW.

Around tables, we take notes.

We review books and publications and all things in between for inspiration.

We’re planning a publication of sorts for How to Forget the Border Completely and it’s going to be great.

Pages.

And maps.

And hand-drawn ideas.

Notes around a video that we’re planning and continuing to be confused by.

Rosina’s zine that we received months and months ago.

Notes on more portals and tours.

And some models.

Joshua Babcock.

Karlyn Koeser.

An idea for a proposal for a commission in Philadelphia.

A second night in the week, around another table.

Michelle takes notes, and they’re thorough.

These are Michelle’s thorough notes, but the idea has already changed.

Josh’s brain on paper.

Diagrams and to-do lists.

And more references for ideas that we’ll iterate again and again.

And a field trip to Home Depot to measure.

And price out and estimate and think about how we’re going to move ahead on CAFKA.

The behind the scenes efforts of Hiba and Josh. Other Friday adventures ensued, anxious to hear all about them.

Broken City Lab is an artist-led interdisciplinary creative research collective and non-profit organization working to explore and unfold curiosities around locality, infrastructures, and creative practice leading towards civic change.